Whether or not 'DAMN.' is your favorite Kendrick album, it’s impossible to deny the record’s technical and emotive strengths. Moreover, in winning such a distinguished honor, we're seeing the rise of major institutions giving long-deserved validation to hip-hop as an art form.

The Pulitzer is a giant step for @kendricklamar, & for hip-hop in general. I'm proud of him,but I feel the need to say that "DAMN." is probably a much easier album for most Pulitzer jurors to digest than TPAB was;To Pimp a Butterfly was more deserving IMO. https://t.co/RzXUhCEzrT

Kendrick Lamar has a Pulitzer now. Just like Colson Whitehead and Toni Morrison and Junot Díaz and Marilynne Robinson and Edward P. Jones and Philip Roth and Harper Lee and John Steinbeck. He's part of that history now.